I had always been under the impression that “Le Jules Verne“, the restaurant located on the 2nd floor of the Eiffel Tower (altitude of 125 meters) was a tourist trap serving horrible food with the view of Paris being its only saving grace. Since we’re living in Paris (once again, Chee’s favorite city in the world) and Chee had gone on and on about how the reviews were outdated and that the restaurant was now helmed by Alain Ducasse (with 25 Michelin stars to his name in all his restaurants around the world), I went surfing around online and to my surprise, I found rather positive reviews of the restaurant.

Jules Verne was one place Chee would never have thought that I would bring her to given my fear of heights. SURPRISE!!! Jules Verne it was for Chee’s birthday (Tip: To land a table right next to the window, book at least 1 to 2 months in advance). With its own private lift access, we were swiftly led up to the restaurant on the 2nd floor of the Eiffel Tower. Restaurant diners can also head to the viewing platform through a private access from the restaurant.

The lunch menu (88€ or 125€ with 3 glasses of wine) which we decided on had a choice of 3 starters, 3 mains and 3 desserts plus the suggestions of the day. A nice cute touch was the butter molded in the form of the base of the Eiffel.

Appetiser was a pumpkin velouté with chestnut. Simple and well-presented. As for starters, we had the preserved duck foie gras, fruit and orange marmalade accompanied by toasted brioche and the ravioli of crab meat with crab sauce. Once again, great presentation and a good start to our meal.

The main dishes did not disappoint. Chee’s dish of roasted pork chop served with stuffed tender onion, straw potatoes and cooking jus as well as my dish of slowly cooked ox cheek and carrots both hit the sweet spots for us. Flavourful, gratifying and thoroughly yummy.

Chee’s desert was a chocolate/mint variation whilst I chose a light desert of a contemporary vacherin of passion, mango and fresh ginger. Being a chocolate lover, I realised I had made the wrong choice when Chee’s dessert arrived. I kept looking over to her yummy dessert. If you’re still hungry by this stage, the complimentary mignardises (small sweet tidbits) of chocolate truffles, guimauves (marshmallows), macaroons, and brownies would definitely make you keel over.

All in all, it was a very good experience. The wines served paired well with the dishes. Did I freak out coz of the height? Thankfully, once I was in the restaurant, it wasn’t all that bad. Nevertheless, heading out to the private viewing platform of the Eiffel Tower was indeed a challenge for me. Doubt I’ll do that again!

There’s something to be said about waking up on a Saturday or Sunday morning and heading out to one of the markets/marchés in Paris to shop for fresh produce.

When we first moved to Paris, we were pleasantly surprised to find out that a marché was set up every Wednesday and Sunday right outside where we lived, under the metro tracks of La Motte PiquetGrenelle and Dupleix stations. It became a routine to wake up on Sunday, pop by the marché, soak in the atmosphere with the locals and pick up what would be our brunch – e.g. roast chicken, cheese with baguette, oysters, paella, sauerkraut with sausages (yes, we can get non-French food items too ;)).

I’ve often stopped in my tracks to stare at a UFO – “unidentified food object” and Bolly would roll his eyes and tell me what it was followed by an exclamation along the lines of “Tu as jamais vu ça?” (You’ve never seen this before?). Oh well, blame that on growing up in a city and not being in the least bit interested in cooking.

Here are some pictures from our visit to the MarchéPresident Wilson (16th arrondissement) last Sunday with my cousin. Spot any UFOs? 🙂

I still don’t know what type of flowers these are but they were a beautiful shade of blue…

I never knew that there were so many varieties of tomatoes…

I could get used to a lifestyle of Sunday oyster brunches 🙂

Another yummy dish, escargot in garlic butter…

When I saw this, I thought of a popular dish in Singapore, sambal (chilli-based sauce) stingrays…

This was one of the UFOs that I stopped to look at when I first arrived in Paris…sea urchins…

MarchéPresident Wilson is known to be one of the more expensive marchés with an uppity Parisian flavour. Comparing prices is a must!

Growing up, I almost always only ate button and shitake mushrooms and never knew that there’s a wide range of mushrooms with different varieties coming into season at different times of the year…

Some are obviously huge…

Pheasant anyone?

One of the perks of living in Paris, finally learning to identify different cheeses!